iamjackslackof
Well-known member
Hi all,
I managed to snag a big batch of assorted transistors on eBay, from what looks like an estate sale. For around 70 bucks, I got well over 150 transistors. maybe 200, I haven't counted them all yet. 50+ silicon, both jelly bean and TO-1/5/18 types, at least 50 PNP germaniums, and a handful of NPN germaniums! Plus what I think are some old school can opamps, a few diodes, and some other components I can't identify. The vast majority of the germaniums are around or above 100 hFE, with the odd single digit and 4 digit(!) hFE readings, so quite useful for pedal building!
I've always seen people post on reddit and other places how some cool uncle or someone gave them a huge stash neat old parts, and never thought I'd manage to acquire a similar stash! The coolest thing in the stash was a pair of "new" RCA still-in-the-box 2N406 Ge PNPs! I don't even want to use them or open them, cause I've never seen transistors this old in the box.
So for my questions. The pics aren't great, but can anyone say for sure if the 8 legged cans on one of the bags are opamps? If so, how do you figure out which pin is which? At least one came on a DIP8 breakout board thing, as well as some wagon-wheel spoked things. Also what circuits would be best to use a vintage opamp in? I want to say the Distortion+/250 used one? Any other recommendations?
Also, for those of you who have a large stash of transistors like this, how do you organize them? Thus far I've organized them by part number, but with so many possible parts now, and some unlabeled, it seems tedious to sort, and not that useful. I'm considering sorting them by gain buckets, like < 100, 100-200, 200+, etc. How do you all do it? I've seen the individual parts measured and placed in a trading card album, and even managed to get a page or so of them done, but again, tedious and time-consuming.
Third, how useful/valuable for building are the silicon guys? Lots are the usual cheap jellybean type, which are not exciting. But there's quite a few TO-1/5/18 types as well. Is the any/much value in vintage silicon transistors? Obviously for being "vintage-correct" in some older circuits there is, but what about outside of pure mojo? I have yet to compile all the part numbers for them, so I'm not sure what I have.
Finally, shout out to @Cybercow for talking me into springing for a DCA75, it has come in very handy for this!
I managed to snag a big batch of assorted transistors on eBay, from what looks like an estate sale. For around 70 bucks, I got well over 150 transistors. maybe 200, I haven't counted them all yet. 50+ silicon, both jelly bean and TO-1/5/18 types, at least 50 PNP germaniums, and a handful of NPN germaniums! Plus what I think are some old school can opamps, a few diodes, and some other components I can't identify. The vast majority of the germaniums are around or above 100 hFE, with the odd single digit and 4 digit(!) hFE readings, so quite useful for pedal building!
I've always seen people post on reddit and other places how some cool uncle or someone gave them a huge stash neat old parts, and never thought I'd manage to acquire a similar stash! The coolest thing in the stash was a pair of "new" RCA still-in-the-box 2N406 Ge PNPs! I don't even want to use them or open them, cause I've never seen transistors this old in the box.
So for my questions. The pics aren't great, but can anyone say for sure if the 8 legged cans on one of the bags are opamps? If so, how do you figure out which pin is which? At least one came on a DIP8 breakout board thing, as well as some wagon-wheel spoked things. Also what circuits would be best to use a vintage opamp in? I want to say the Distortion+/250 used one? Any other recommendations?
Also, for those of you who have a large stash of transistors like this, how do you organize them? Thus far I've organized them by part number, but with so many possible parts now, and some unlabeled, it seems tedious to sort, and not that useful. I'm considering sorting them by gain buckets, like < 100, 100-200, 200+, etc. How do you all do it? I've seen the individual parts measured and placed in a trading card album, and even managed to get a page or so of them done, but again, tedious and time-consuming.
Third, how useful/valuable for building are the silicon guys? Lots are the usual cheap jellybean type, which are not exciting. But there's quite a few TO-1/5/18 types as well. Is the any/much value in vintage silicon transistors? Obviously for being "vintage-correct" in some older circuits there is, but what about outside of pure mojo? I have yet to compile all the part numbers for them, so I'm not sure what I have.
Finally, shout out to @Cybercow for talking me into springing for a DCA75, it has come in very handy for this!
